Featured Exhibit: 1900-O Morgan dollar, photographed 12-26-08 by AdamL

Discussion in 'Coin Chat' started by AdamL, Dec 26, 2008.

  1. AdamL

    AdamL Well-Known Member

    Pictured is a 1900 Morgan silver dollar. It was minted in New Orleans which is indicated by the small O above the D and O in the word dollar on the reverse of the coin.

    Morgan dollars were designed by George T. Morgan. They were minted from 1878-1904 and again for one year in 1921. They were produced in Philadelphia, New Orleans, Denver, Carson City and San Francisco. The composition is .900 silver .100 copper. Its diameter is 38.1 millimeters. Its weight is 26.73 grams.

    The New Orleans mint was one of three southern mints to begin producing coins in the 1830’s. It began minting coins in 1838. In 1861 Louisiana seceded from the union and state authorities seized the mint. The state transferred ownership to the confederates. For a short time it was used to make coins for the Confederacy. The U.S. army retook New Orleans in 1862 and the mint served as headquarters in New Orleans for Union troops. It was the only one of the three southern mints to produce coins after the Civil War. It began minting coins again in 1878 and continued to do so until 1909.

    I photographed this coin with a Nikon coolpix s10 VR. I used two 100 watt bulbs in two separate gooseneck type lamps in close proximity to the coin, with no other light in the room. I photographed it laying flat and shooting straight down, holding the camera as steady as I could since I don’t have a tripod. The lens was about 2.5 inches away from the coin. Flash was off, macro was on.

    It took me a lot of time to get pictures I was satisfied with, probably because I was photographing it through a holder. I’m still not 100% happy with them. But I am a newb when it comes to photography and these come very close to depicting the coin the way that it looks in hand. So I’m not too displeased with the final result.

    This coin was graded MS63 by NGC.

    Please note that some of the marks you see are on the slab and not the coin, particularly the light colored vertical marks on the obverse.

    Obverse:
    [​IMG]

    Reverse:
    [​IMG]

    A different shot of the obverse:
    [​IMG]

    Here is a pic I snapped really quick a second ago, showing the coin in the slab:
    [​IMG]

    The coin almost looks golden in this picture that I got while playing with the lighting, but its obviously not the way the coin really looks:
    [​IMG]

    The lighting and technique I mentioned previously only applies to the first two pictures. All comments are welcome. I'm still a newb with the coin pics, because I only have a camera with macro when my brother is visiting. But I'm getting better.
     
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  3. mark_h

    mark_h Somewhere over the rainbow

    Nice coin. The first picture is the best - you can see some of the remaining luster.
     
  4. AdamL

    AdamL Well-Known Member

    Thank you. And I agree. This is, IMO, a good honest coin :) It is not blast white, but it does have luster. And I think I captured that in the first obverse pics and in the only reverse pic I posted.

    ...I was wonderin if anyone was ever going to comment, lol.
     
  5. mrbrklyn

    mrbrklyn New Member

    Did I miss this yesterday. I'm very sorry. This is an excellent Morgan description, one to be very proud of. It's a very decent shot, with an honest tonal quality that shows Morgans in all there glory.

    BTW - I love your write up

    Ruben
     
  6. AdamL

    AdamL Well-Known Member

  7. mrbrklyn

    mrbrklyn New Member

    Exhibit: 1900-O Morgan dollar, photographed 12-26-08 by AdamL http://www.cointalk.com/forum/t45411/


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  8. Leadfoot

    Leadfoot there is no spoon

    Nice coin & photos. Thanks for sharing.

    Some constructive criticism. I would focus on two things - focus and white balance. Once you fix those two problems, your photos will look much, much better.
     
  9. rzage

    rzage What Goes Around Comes Around .

    Nice pics Adam , keep up the good work .
    rzage
     
  10. AdamL

    AdamL Well-Known Member


    I'm not sure what you mean by white balance.

    ???
     
  11. Harryj

    Harryj Supporter**

    Nice coin Adam. Also a some nice history behind it!!!!!!! Thanks.
     
  12. mrbrklyn

    mrbrklyn New Member

  13. mrbrklyn

    mrbrklyn New Member

  14. jterry85

    jterry85 New Member

    White balance is referring to the coolness or warmth of color in the photo. Most DSLR's have preset white balance settings or allow you to create your own custom settings. Other digital cameras select the WB for you usually. If you aren't able to select the WB setting then you can experiment with different light sources to achieve the desired look, ie flourescent lamp, incandescent lamp, sunlight, etc...
     
    silvermonger likes this.
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